What is a "Pedro Pan?"

If you don't know, sadly you are not alone.

Pedro Pans were children who were part of an exodus of 14,048 unaccompanied children from Cuba during the early stages of Fidel Castro’s Communist regime in the early 1960's. This mission, later dubbed “Operation Pedro Pan,” (after the flying Disney character, Peter Pan) was a collaboration between James Baker, the headmaster of Ruston Academy, an American school in Havana, and the Catholic Welfare Bureau headed by Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh and funded by the United States government. It allowed for the waiver of visa requirements for Cuban children to enter America.

Initially, Operation Pedro Pan was created for children of parents in the underground opposition who would be orphaned if their parents were captured. However, as the grasp of Castro’s brutal regime reached farther into Cuban’s mainstream community, and the threat of Communist indoctrination became a reality, the program broadened to include working and middle class families. Eventually, thousands of parents made the ultimate sacrifice -- to send their children away from them and their homeland and hopefully into a more stable, safe, and better life. Working clandestinely from December 1960 to October 1962, Operation Pedro Pan would become the largest recorded exodus of unaccompanied minors in the Western Hemisphere.

Cuban children came by airplane to Miami and were taken to one of several housing situations to wait for their placement throughout the United States. Close to 60 boys came to Marquette, MI to live in the Holy Family Orphans' Home until they could be reunited with their families. For a few, this was a short wait. For most, it was three to five years before their families could come to the US. 10% of Pedro Pans never reunited.

Outside of the Pedro Pan community, there is very little collective knowledge of this chapter in history. I hope to change that through my young adult historical novel about a North American boy who lands in an orphanage that is housing exiles from Operation Pedro Pan.

View the informative video about Operation Pedro Pan below produced by Eloisa Echazabal. More about Eloisa follows.

Eloisa Echazabal is a Pedro Pan who had dedicated her life to sharing the history of Operation Pedro Pan. (My apologies, Eloisa, for the inability of this website software to include the proper accent marks in your name!.) Her website is very informative, too.

If you are near Miami Dade College, be sure to listen to the panel discussion described in the poster (produced by MDC WC Media group). The panel will be held on West Campus.

Pulse of the Planet is a wonderful aural resource. Click on the link to hear music from Casa de la Trova in Santiago, Cuba, Special thanks to the National Science Foundation for supporting Pulse of the Planet.

My Recent Article about Operation Pedro Pan and Marquette, MI

Michigan History Magazine (www.michiganhistorymagazine.com) recently published my article, When Cuba Came to Marquette, in the Sept/Oct issue. I thank Dr. Tony Madrigal, Luis Piedra, and Carlos Naumann (Cubans who came to Marquette as part of Operation Pedro Pan) and Richard Ryan (the last North American boy to live at the Orphans' Home with the Cuban boys) for willingly sharing their stories. Putting in print their words and the words of others who were part of Operation Pedro Pan helps ensure their experiences will not be lost in the next generation.